Hekia answers (at 11.12 of video) “We already have very strong consensus from the teacher unions as well as the profession, they are on the working group, recommending the design features for this. We are very focussed on getting this implemented from 2015 and fully implemented by 2017″

Is she refusing to answer the question posted there, and actually continuing to talk about the new ‘super’ roles, or did she really just imply the unions are on board with performance pay? Because those are two very different things.

So, because she wasn’t clear, I need to check…

NZEI? PPTA? NZPF? What are your positions on performance pay?

Because there is a loud voice from teachers that they do NOT want this. And with good reason backed by much research.

Discussion

7 thoughts on “Hekia implies unions agree to performance pay”

Dianne, NZEI Te Riu Roa decided to step out of the Minister’s cross sector forum because of the lack of ability to have proper engagement and we did not want to support many of the changes that the Minister was using the group to rubber stamp. Our President consulted with our membership about the value of staying inside the forum but there was broad support for disengaging. We could not see that children were at the heart of what was being proposed and the GERM agenda was becoming more obvious.

The Taking Stock, Moving Forward conference was in full swing when Key announced the $359 million new roles initiative. The international speakers present could see the limitations of the spending and Prof David Berliner ( http://www.education2014.org.nz/?page_id=127 ) growled “liar” when he heard Key claim that it is the teacher that makes the biggest difference to children’s learning. It is likely that eligibility for the new roles will be largely based on National Standard results, which is essentially performance pay.

NZEI Te Riu Roa negotiated a position (Advanced Classroom Expertise Teacher) in our latest primary teacher agreement that supports a career pathway for excellent classroom teachers and would reward them for staying in the classroom. This will be identifying teachers who demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attributes in their daily practice that would establish them as more than an experienced teacher. The process will involve professional recognition of practice and the use of an external moderator.

NZEI Te Riu Roa will never support a system of remunerating teachers because of scores in high stakes assessment (performance pay) that is only based on data.

As I suspected, Dave. Hekia was yet again using doublespeak to imply a widespread agreement with something that in fact has little to no support from teachers or their unions. I will do what I can to get the word out that she is obfuscating and, dare I posit, purposely muddying the waters on this.

I was at the conference when the announcement came through about the $359, and the reaction was horror, not elation. Teachers want a fair wage and for students to have access to good quality support. Bribing us in an election year might seem like a good plan, but I dare say no-one ever went intop teaching to make money. We enter the profession and stay despite the politic footballing because we want to make a difference to students’ lives – and paying a few of us to toe the Global Reform party line is not going to serve that end.